She is depressed, withdrawn, always sad. She does not interact with friends, neighbors or anyone at church anymore. In fact, she has disappeared from her usual society. Who knows why. Could have been a death in the family, a seemingly insignificant slight, a bitter disappointment, spouse throwing her aside for another. She needs help, but she has no idea she needs help–or that it is even available to someone like her.
Then someone enters her life, their paths cross perhaps quite unexpectedly for a moment in time. She takes the time to draw out her story and listen carefully. With understanding and perhaps some guidance, perhaps suggesting a medical examination to probe for internal chemical imbalances, this new person helps get her on the path of becoming a whole person again.
Sometimes an entire society seems to be fractured. The people as a group have lost their way. Are not a whole people as they once were.
It was into a society that was fractured and apart from God, with many people hurting and in deep need of being made whole again, that Jesus came. We have a hundred years of psychology where researchers put names on every little and big ailment and compile them in the huge bible of the trade – the DSM. In Jesus day, they would call it an “unclean spirit.” We sometimes use similar phrasing in everyday life. We’ll say someone is depressed (not in a clinical way) or troubled or even crazy. But these troubled souls possess a spirit within that is “unclean” that is not whole with God.
The first three chapters of Mark describe many instances where Jesus healed people such as these. He also restored physical wholeness to people with severe skin disease (leprosy) or a birth defect (withered hand) and to many more that Mark doesn’t describe in detail. Mark says that Jesus taught. What he describes in detail is that Jesus made people whole.
And then he assembles a smaller group–the twelve–so that he can teach them to do the same thing. After he left the earth, that is after the resurrection, the remains of this group did just that. And in turn taught a new generation. We are many generations removed from those days, but we, too, can be disciples of Jesus and bring wholeness to people we meet. You can do this by giving attention to someone else, listening to their story and offering guidance. You can also pray over someone with a physical ailment and bring wholeness of various kinds.
In my life, I’ve been with a small group of people who lay hands on an ill person and I could feel the healing flow. People who had cancer and then were checked and it had disappeared. I have no idea why them and not others. Or why maybe the cancer returns later sometimes. I guess we’re a little less than Jesus who was pretty much 100%. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, though. Where in your world today can you bring wholeness to someone who is broken?
Faith Venture 
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